Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funding program

Modeling-Enhanced Innovations Trailblazing Nuclear Energy Reinvigoration (MEITNER). MEITNER projects seek to identify and develop innovative technologies that can enable designs for lower cost, safer, advanced nuclear reactors. The ARPA-E team developed this funding opportunity in close coordination with DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

Nuclear power generates nearly 20 percent of U.S. electricity, offering a reliable source of power that complements the country’s diverse portfolio of fossil-fuel and renewable generation sources. Existing nuclear power plants, however, face comparatively high operational and maintenance costs. Today, there is a compelling opportunity to leverage design, new manufacturing processes, and technologies to increase the competitiveness of nuclear power. The MEITNER program seeks transformative technologies to allow advanced reactor designs that achieve lower construction cost and autonomous operations while also improving safety.

This funding opportunity encourages collaboration across all disciplines for its projects, calling on scientists, engineers, and practitioners from different organizations, scientific fields, and technology sectors to form diverse and experienced project teams. These interdisciplinary and cross-organizational collaborations facilitate scientific and technological discoveries that a single group alone would not be able to achieve.

A summary of the MEITNER program can be found HERE. Additional information, including the full FOA, is available on ARPA-E’s online application portal, ARPA-E eXCHANGE.